Preview: Hearts vs. St Mirren - prediction, team news, lineups

Third faces fourth in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday when St Mirren make the trip to Hearts in a bid to overtake them in the league table.

Only goal difference is splitting these two sides at present, giving each team the chance to put some actual distance between the other with a victory this weekend.

Match preview

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Hearts brought an end to their two-match losing streak in impressive fashion last weekend by being one of only two teams to defeat Celtic this season in the Scottish Premiership.

Goals from Lawrence Shankland and Stephen Kingsley in the first half proved to be enough on the day, while they impressively kept a clean sheet against the best-attacking team in the league.

It provided them with the goal difference to overtake St Mirren in the table, and the Jambos will be looking to cement their third-place position on Saturday.

While Hearts still trail second-placed Rangers by 14 points, the focus will be on putting on as much pressure as possible throughout the busy winter period.

However, Steven Naismith will want to see more attacking quality from his side, as no team in the top half has scored fewer than them.

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St Mirren were victorious against Hearts when the two teams met earlier this season, and repeating that feat would be welcomed considering it would allow them to leapfrog their opponents in the table.

The Buddies head into the fixture following a goalless draw against Motherwell, and with only two wins in their previous six league outings there is some work to be done from a consistency point of view.

One concern for St Mirren will be their form in away matches this season, as the club have only won two matches on the road in the Scottish Premiership.

Much like their opponents, the Buddies have struggled finding the back of the net on the road, and that will be something to focus on in this particular match.

However, considering they have scored in just one of their previous four matches, it is a situation that might require more long-term work.

Team News

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Hearts made four changes to the starting lineup against Celtic, and considering the positive result Jorge Grant, Nathaniel Atkinson, Alan Forrest and Aidan Denholm all will be in consideration to retain their places.

Cammy Devlin and Liam Boyce are injury concerns for the Jambos, though, and it is expected that neither man will be back for this one.

After failing to find the back of the net against Motherwell there could be some attacking changes made this weekend for St Mirren, with Alex Grieve and Mikael Mandron being under consideration.

The visitors do have several injury concerns though as Ryan Strain and Ryan Flynn are dealing with muscle problems, while Caolan Boyd-Munce was also out of action last weekend.

Hearts possible starting lineup:

Clark; Kingsley, Kent, Rowles; Grant, Atkinson, Baningime, Denholm, Cochrane; Forrest, Shankland

St Mirren possible starting lineup:

Hemming; Gogic, Taylor, Fraser; Small, Baccus, O'Hara, Kiltie, Grieve; Ayunga, Nachmani

We say: Hearts 0-0 St Mirren

With little to split these two teams in the league, it will likely be a cagey fixture on Saturday with neither wanting to give too much away.

Considering the lack of goals that they tend to score, a goalless draw could be the way this game unfolds.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.